For years, people have anticipated construction of a major supermarket
at one of Southern Anne Arundel's principal crossroads, Rts. 258 and 256.
You might know this as Deale-Churchton Road.

But the scope of the project unveiled this week is a matter that people
need swiftly to understand and debate.

A proposal outlined by Safeway to the newly formed Deale Merchants Association
this week calls for the expected supermarket alongside a dozen or so stores,
one of them potentially a fast-food outlet. Developers have applied for
permission to pump tens of thousands of gallons of water daily from the
Magothy aquifer. Traffic lights are being proposed for an intersection where
none now exist. A clock-tower at the site is being discussed.

The developers express confidence that they can break ground in six months
to build two pads that would be 55,000 square feet and 10,000 square feet.

This development, to say the least, could represent a jarring change
in the character and the economy of Southern Anne Arundel County. Yet months
before construction is scheduled to begin, few people know anything about
it.

We believe that new developments are not something to be rejected out
of hand. People in the vicinity of this proposed project are entitled to
conveniences that sometimes are hard to find. And Southern Anne Arundel's
economy, we think, could use a shot or two in the arm.

By the same token, we believe that never should major changes be pushed
forward without communities having something to say about them.

That is the spirit of Anne Arundel County's new comprehensive planning
law. Panels are coming together at this very moment to plan the futures
of many Anne Arundel communities, including this one. We would not think
that any developer would want to short-circuit a valuable process designed
to give thinking people a say in what constitutes high-quality living in
their community.

One local businesswoman, Ann Wolfe, wondered aloud if people want "a
Tyson's Corner in the middle of Deale We've got small-area planning committees
about to be put in place with respect to such developments."

Another businesswoman, Claire Mallicote, asserted that we need to respect
the property rights of developers. "I'm of the opinion that it will
help smaller stores. It will keep the people here to shop instead of going
out of the area," added Mallicote, who convened local merchants to
hear the plan.